The Ateneo of Madrid hosted the recital of the young man from Granada on Sunday, November 9th. Jose Fermin Fernandez inside of the First Joaquín Rodrigo International Guitar FestivalAnd he established himself as the new guru of flamenco guitar. Without hesitation: there is no guitarist in the entire world of flamenco guitar. jondo that possesses the combination of all the virtues this guitarist possesses. In the age of YouTube and canned sounds, in times of harmony overload and technical ostentation, such talents are scarce. flamencoHe's soulful. And José Fermín's touch overflows with it. He has a perfect sense of rhythm, he knows how to play with time. His technique is overwhelming. He has deciphered the harmonic secrets and seduces with melody. He is an extraordinary composer, exquisitely original. He possesses a powerful pulse when the moment calls for it. And he's a master of caresses where the tickle should be. He transmits, he hits hard. pellizcos. Even bites. José Fermín is a beast on the six strings, an enviable guitarist, the one destined to reign in the empire jondo of the flamenco bass guitar as a soloist. Part of the audience seems to still be deaf or unaware of the bass guitars of this man from Granada. Remember his name, because José Fermín Fernández has already etched in ebony and cypress the ten commandments of hidden mysteries that touch the soul.
"And he's a master of touch, right where the tickles should be. He transmits, he hits the mark." pellizcos. Even bites. José Fermín is a beast on the six strings, an enviable guitarist, the one destined to reign in the empire jondo of the flamenco Bajañí as a soloist»
He opened the bare-guitar recital with his unfinished rondeña, a rummaging through the depths of history, drawing from all and yet resembling none. Superb. He then surrendered to the tangos arrumbaos Heroines of Salvora, which he composed in a park in the capital, brimming with inspiration. He scratched the respectable with gusto. It crept into my left hand with precise and clean tremolos in the Granaína del Generalife And he sprinkled it with sharp little pinpricks, with dizzying flourishes, impossible flourishes and darts for the rest of us mortals, when he gave it his all in the fandangos with bulerías of those same gardens. He remembered that year when he planted his flag in the Cordoba National and in The Union bringing the 'Mining Staff', weaving together in a single piece with tons of style and flamenco flair the taranta that made him famous and the Alchemy of his bulería. As a gift, he went to Granada for tangos, fusing between his fingers the classicism and the new freshness of the one who has the twenty reales of the hardIt culminated in an absolutely masterful performance. The applause thundered, and Madrid surrendered to his talent.
The clumsy attempt to translate into words what blossoms in his touch is an offense. Because there are no verbs, adjectives, or colors that can paint his true, piercing stabs on white. I thought I glimpsed how his blood, boiling, ran from his right to his left, passing through the six strings, throbbing near his burning chest, inhabited by a pure guitar that propelled feeling into gesture, which appeared distorted with pleasure in an orgasmic ritual of divine fusion between wood and bronzes and a heart flamenco.
Credits
Guitar recital by José Fermín Fernández
First Joaquín Rodrigo International Guitar Festival
Athenaeum of Madrid
November 9th 2025
